I’m not sure what Donald Trump was thinking when he had his son Donald Trump Jr. sign his name on three liquor licenses for his New Jersey golf courses, but you can bet he was hoping to hide something. Trump may be able to run, but he can’t hide behind his eldest son, according to state officials.

They also said they will not renew the licenses for Trump National Bedminster and Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey due to his felony hush money conviction, BusinessInsider reports.

So he’s feeling a bit more of the pain. It’s coming on down the pike and it’s what he gets. And I’m sure there will be more pain for him.

However, the two clubs can continue to serve alcoholic beverages pending a July 19 hearing on the two licenses, which expire Sunday.

The liquor license for Trump’s third course, Trump National Philadelphia, in Pine Hill, New Jersey, barely squeezed by. It was renewed by the borough on June 3, four days after his guilty verdict on 34 felony business falsification counts. This was definitely a last-minute renewal, owing only to timing.

According to a spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office, officials must wait to disqualify Trump from holding a liquor license until after his sentencing, which is set for July 11. The New Jersey AG’s office regulates liquor licenses through its Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Business Insider reports. Earlier this month, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced all three licenses were under review by his office.

Trump was apparently unconcerned at the time and blew off the importance of the review. He noted via  a spokesman that he is “not the holder of any liquor license in New Jersey, and he is not an officer or director of any entity that holds a liquor license in New Jersey — or anywhere in the United States for that matter.”

But thanks to New Jersey officials on Friday, Trump has been hit with a particularly rude awakening.

“A review by ABC indicates that Mr. Trump maintains a direct beneficial interest in the three liquor licenses through the receipt of revenues and profits from them, as the sole beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust,” according to the AG’s spokesperson.

According to state liquor law, a license can be pulled if anyone owns, or financially benefits from the license is convicted of a crime of “moral turpitude.”

I think it’s safe to say that Trump lives in the land of moral turpitude. He’s comfortable there, and now, given his underlying financial interest in the clubs, the licenses for these clubs were at risk under both criteria, experts told Business Insider.

In his sworn testimony, Trump has stated he is the sole financial beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, an umbrella entity that owns the Trump Organization in its entirety, including the three LLCs that carry the clubs’ liquor licenses. He enjoyed a stint as the sole trustee for a few months after he left the White House, but then removed himself in July 2021, leaving Donald Trump Jr. as the sole trustee while his criminal investigations in New York, Georgia, Washington, D.C., and Florida were heating up.

This is all very sneaky business indeed and when he testified at his New York civil fraud trial last October, he noted that he, himself remained the “sole beneficiary” of the trust and its assets. So as his liquor licenses continue to prosper, so does Trump, whereas everyone else at Trump Org is just on salary.

Fortunately, there’s potential trouble ahead for him in moral turpitude land.

“Felony convictions are universally considered crimes of moral turpitude,” said Peter M. Rhodes, partner at the Haddonfield, New Jersey-based firm Cahill, Wilinski, Rhodes & Joyce.

I say let’s all raise a toast to that!

And you may want to take a gander at Business Insider’s story here.